calebbrown.id.au -

Telfast - now with 50% more air!

Caleb Brown — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:03:17 -0500

So the other day I ran out of Telfast (a particular type of antihistamine drug) and so I went to the chemist to get some more.

Upon finding the box I immediately realised that it was noticeably larger than my previous one.

I was surprised that a company would decide to increase the size of a their packaging without increasing the size or quantity of the product it contains. I suspect this change is to do with some brand repositioning within it's owning company, Sanofi-Aventis, or maybe a change in where it's packaged. But, nevertheless, such a move struck me as counterproductive, which further investigation seems to support...

After getting the new box home I took some measurements and made some calculations:

	Old box	New box	Change
Height	25mm	28mm	+3mm (12%)
Width	120mm	120mm	0
Depth	55mm	75mm	+20mm (36%)
Volume	165cm³	252cm³	+87cm³ (52%)

So the new box is more than 50% larger than the old one - or to put it another way, I could fit one and half of the old boxes inside the new one.

At this point you might be thinking "so what, who cares if it's a little bigger?". Well, let me point out the ramifications this has for shipping.

It means that if before only 12 boxes fit in a shipping box, now only 8 will fit. If a truck was full of these it would be carrying roughly two thirds the original number of boxes. This means that it would require another half full truck to make up the other third to distribute the same quantity. Or for a 1.2m x 1.2m x 1.2m pallet load the difference is between fitting about 10000 of the old size to 6700 of the new size - that's more than 3000 fewer boxes!

This has two negative implications:

shipping will cost roughly 50% more than before (assuming the shipping costs didn't change)
waste and pollution from shipping will also increase by about 50% (assuming no change to the method of shipping). This is negated a little by the decrease in overall weight due to there being less product

The amusing thing in all this is that all the extra space is taken up by air. The extra money spent in transport and the extra burden this places on the environment is a result of packaging more air.

I don't know why they did this, but it goes to show how costly increasing package sizes by only a small amount can have.

No junk mail for anyone?

Caleb Brown — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:58:13 -0500

So while I was carrying out my daily dump-the-junk-mail routine I considered for the umpteenth time buying a 'No Junk Mail' sticker for the mailbox.

Then I wondered: what would happen if 'No Junk Mail' stickers were delivered with the junk mail? What would happen if they were mailed out en masse to every home in Sydney?

It struck me that such a stunt could be very disruptive.

Assuming a majority of people apply the sticker, it could drive the companies that are responsible for distributing the material out of business. It would mean more teenagers hunting employment at the local department store. And they wouldn't be able to employ them due to the drop in income from a smaller distribution of their catalogs.

The upside to this is that families would be less inclined to buy things that don't actually need, but all this would probably result in an increase in prices as retailers try and make ends meet.

The only real winner in the end would probably be the environment.

Just in case you're considering doing this, I would recommend testing the assumption I made above. Start by testing a whole street, and then maybe a whole suburb. Even try a few different demographics.

Buy a stack of stickers. Go from house to house, putting one into each letterbox which doesn't already have one. Wait a week. Go around and count the number of them actually stuck up. If a decent percentage have put them up, then it'll probably work.

Unsafe Zebra Crossings

Caleb Brown — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:26:21 -0500

Ever noticed how the white road markings are really slippery when wet?

I remember discovering how slippery they can get when riding my bike to school in the wet. I would always ride along the bike track that had a single white line running down the centre of it.

One day, as I was ascending the one significant hill on the trip to school, my tyres touch the line as I applied power to the wheels through the peddles. I soon found I was struggling to stay on as I contended with the sudden loss of friction, which was quite a surprise.

I don't ride my bike much nowadays, but I still experience the slipperiness as I take off from the traffic lights in my car and feel the wheels start spinning as they try to accelerate over the wet line.

The irony of all this is that zebra crossings are painted out of the same stuff. The same slippery-when-wet concoction that my bike tyres slip on and my car wheels spin on also makes it hard for pedestrians with certain types of shoes (like uggboots) to stay upright on.

So much for being the safe place to cross the road.

The first 20 books

Caleb Brown — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:08:39 -0500

It's week 22 of 2008 and I'm well into my reading challenge. So far I am on track to hit 48 having completed 20 books so far. Finally, as promised a number of weeks ago, here is the list so far...

Designing Web Usability (Nielsen)
Completed: 11th January
Good ideas about web usability. Lots of detail. A bit dated. Some opinions I disagree with.
Confessions of a Reformission Rev (Driscoll)
Completed: 16th January
Candid insight into Driscoll's life and how he set up a massive church. Great reading. Like his style
Web-Empower Your Church (Stephenson)
Completed: 19th January
Wasn't targeted well. Author seemed to be pushing his own agenda. Would've liked some theology too.
The Cross of Christ (Stott)
Completed: 7th February
Heavy, but brilliant. The Cross is the centre of everything.
Bit Literacy (Hurst)
Completed: 11th February
Good book on how to organise one's digital life. Don't totally agree with everything.
Your Mind Matters (Stott)
Completed: 11th February
Nice short book on why Christians should place an importance on 'knowledge' (balanced by love)
Pragmatic Programmer (Hunt & Thomas)
Completed: 20th February
Supremely useful collection of tips on being a better programmer. Was a bit 'slow' at times though.
Mere Christianity (Lewis)
Completed: 26th February
Excellent in many areas. Such unique images make it very good. Although I don't always agree 100% it's still a classic.
The Radical Reformission (Driscoll)
Completed: 2nd March
Great book. Thesis is essentially must be a culturally relevant bible believing church.
Don't Waste Your Life (Piper) [2nd read]
Completed: 6th March
Fantastic book. 1st read was life changing this time round it was just as challenging.
The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov)
Completed: 24th March
Very well written (err, translated?) intriguing story. The supernatural themes and alternative gospel account probably lessened it's appeal.
Escape From Reason (Schaeffer)
Completed: 26th March
Brief look at the progression of the western world view. Lends some light on what people think nowadays. Makes me want to read more philosophy.
What's the Difference? (Piper)
Completed: 27th March
Nice short book defining gender roles biblically. Clear and succinct and many great points.
Bad Astronomy (Plait)
Completed: 5th April
Excellent book dispelling myths and clearly explaining hard astronomical concepts. Fun, easy read.
Blue Like Jazz (Miller)
Completed: 11th April
Great book. Well written, engaging story/random thoughts about Christianity. Don't agree 100% with everything, but still very good.
The God Who Is There (Schaeffer)
Completed: 28th April
Similar but broader than Escape from Reason. Seeks to address the question of evangelism in a world with a moving worldview. Dense, but good.
A Scanner Darkly (Dick)
Completed: 7th May
Heavy drug themes. Interesting insight into the lives of abusers. Slow start but gets interesting in the 3rd quarter.
A Christian Manifesto (Schaeffer)
Completed: 12th May
A strong call to action for Christians in countries that are turning away from Christian roots. Solid biblical basis. Good read.
The Princess Bride (Goldman)
Completed: 16th May (well 26th of May including the bits at the end)
Fantastic, engaging story. More detail than the movie, but Goldman's interjections are annoying. Very fun read.
unChristian (Kinnaman)
Completed: 25th May
Eye opening results of years of study. Doesn't finish as strong as it could, but it's still an eye opening book.

TechWorld

Caleb Brown — Mon, 26 May 2008 02:30:58 -0500

Just thought I'd put out a gratuitous plug for TechWorld - a website we've just pushed live at work.

For those who don't know I work for IDG Communications (think PC World or ComputerWorld - tech media) and I've been working on this site for a little while now so I'm very happy to have it going live.

Included on the site is a blog that I contribute to. That is where I plan on geeking out on things that are Tech and Programming related, so if you're interested in that sort of thing check it out.

Complete list of Facebook Chat Emoticons

Caleb Brown — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:07:43 -0500

While playing with Facebook Chat I wondered if it supported emoticons. Turns out it does. But when I tried the >:-) emoticon (a 'devil') and saw it printed as boring text, I wondered, "what smilies does facebook actually support?"

So with the help of Safari and some javascript hacking I present to you a complete list of facebook emoticons.

smile: :-) :) :] =)
frown: :-( :( :[ =(
tongue: :-P :P :-p :p =P
grin: :-D :D =D
gasp: :-O :O :-o :o
wink: ;-) ;)
glasses: 8-) 8) B-) B)
sunglasses: 8-| 8| B-| B|
grumpy: >:( >:-(

unsure: :/ :-/ :\ :-\
cry: :'(
devil: 3:) 3:-)
angel: O:) O:-)
kiss: :-* :*
heart: <3
kiki: ^_^
squint: -_-
confused: o.O O.o

upset: >:O >:-O >:o >:-o
pacman: :v
curly lips: :3
robot: :|]
Chris Putnam: :putnam:
Shark: (^^^)
Penguin: <(")
42: :42:

Enjoy.

Updated 21 July 2008:
Moved B-) and B) from sunglasses to glasses and cleaned up formatting.

Updated 20 November 2008: Fixed spelling of tongue.

Updated 18 May 2009: Added the Shark.

Updated 21 September 2009: Added the Penguin. Thanks to everyone who let me know in the comments.

Updated 3 February 2010: Added the 42.

Never gonna give you up

Caleb Brown — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:53:21 -0500

Just saw this awesome interview with Rick Astley on the LA Times where he comments on the "rickrolling" internet meme he is at the centre of.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept of "rickrolling" check out this enlightening introductory article explaining what it is.

Music link fest

Caleb Brown — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:19:33 -0500

I love music and the internet has certainly fostered that love. No longer do I have to depend just on the radio, friendly recommendations and music-store-serendipity to find music I might like. With the Internet I can now pull up an artist's bio, scan through a complete discography, sample their music, listen to similar artists, and then buy the single song I was looking for.

So I thought I'd share some of the sites that I've found and use regularly (see below). You probably know some of them already, but if I missed one, leave it in the comments.

Places to find music and to tell people what you like and what you listen to:

Hype Machine - a music blog aggregator which has a handy player for playing mp3s added to the blogs. Good place to find new stuff.
last.fm - Find what people with similar tastes to yours are listening too. Tracks the music you play to do it. (my account)
iLike - Kinda like last.fm. I haven't played with it, but it's bigish on facebook.

Places to get information about music (other than wikipedia, google and myspace of course):

All Music - a super-good database of music information. There's so much content in here.
Song Meanings - ever wondered what a musician was thinking when they wrote a song? Well you won't find those answers here, just a whole lot of user speculation.
Covers Project - another social site attempting to capture who's covering who. Handy.

Places to get music:

iTunes Store - the usual place to go. A slick experience. Only buy iTunes Plus though.
Amazon's mp3 download service - very cool. Major labels are selling music without copy protection through Amazon. But only available in the USA presently.
eMusic - no copy protection, quality mp3 downloads, very cheap, not a lot of pop. They've stopped unregistered users from browsing too. Bit of a bummer.

Bonus sites:

SongTapper - find songs by tapping the spacebar
Midomi - find songs by humming or singing it
Songza - a more traditional search, but a very shmick interface
Flashback Radio - the best 80s internet radio station

Honorable mentions: Pandora (incredible music player, no longer available in Australia) and SeeqPod (handy search tool, ethically questionable)

Reading Challenge

Caleb Brown — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:15:40 -0600

I started work late last year for a company based in St Leonards. This means everyday I spend over an hour each direction in transit as I travel to and from home in Sutherland. This now affords me a very significant amount of time disconnected from the Internet and somewhat alone.

Now instead of frittering away such time studying the many details of the scenery passing by the carriage window, I have decided instead to spend it reading. Real books that is, not magazines nor MX. It is one of my resolutions this year to spend more money on books than DVDs and CDs, and more time reading than watching television.

Therefore my goal is to complete 48 books in 12 months (i.e. 4 a month). A book generally counts if it has more than 75 pages with a standard word density per page - so no children's books or comics. There is no limitation on genre which means all topics and styles are readable.

The primary reason for this undertaking, apart from occupying my train time, is to stimulate my mind. Reading a book requires a mental investment far beyond that demanded by TV and the internet. It forces you to participate in ways like grappling with the author's reasoning, or through the images evoked in the imagination, or also through the comprehension of new knowledge or a new paradigm. It's impossible to passively read a book and so I'm hoping to have mind broadened.

Another reason is that I am no longer content to leave culture defining literature unread. Many times I have been told of a book worth reading but only got so far as thinking I should read it. No more. If a book is worth reading I am determined to read it.

So that is the challenge. Right now I have completed 6 books and am about to complete the 7th. Only 41 to go.

Photo bonanza

Caleb Brown — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:24:21 -0600

I've been doing some photo uploading.

Kim Mansfield's farewell at Coledale a couple of weeks ago:

Dragon boat racing, which my flatmate James was competing in:

Photos from 'I See Rev'

Caleb Brown — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:43:32 -0600

Saturday night was the relaunch of Rev for Menai Anglican Church, our young adults group. This album has some higher quality photos taken on Saturday night.

More Photos...

Goodbye Email

Caleb Brown — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:51:34 -0600

In an effort to reduce the noise in my inbox I have closed my long standing email address: amnot@hotpop.com.

As far as free email services go it has served me well. It gave me free POP3 email and wasn't hotmail at a time when it was king and free POP3 services were rare. Since then free webmail has changed dramatically. Google came along and gave enormous storage and a good interface and made everyone else pick up their game.

I'm not sad to see this address go. It was always a temporary stop gap until I bought my own domain and it had become so overrun with spam. It has served me well for the nearly 5 years I've had it.

Website has been upgraded

Caleb Brown — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:31:32 -0600

For those who care my blog is now running on Drupal 5.7 instead of the v4.5 it was on before. Amusingly enough v6.0 is almost out now.

Comments have been broken and should be working again now. Most of the site is the same except a few small look and feel changes.

The new version allows me a little more flexibility which I'd like to try out, so things might change over the next few months a bit more dramatically.

Rescuing Resolutions

Caleb Brown — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:29:55 -0600

New Year's Resolutions tend to be given a rough treatment by society. The popular expectation is that no one will succeed at anything they label a new year's resolution. However despite knowing this people continue to set resolutions. I suspect the idea of self improvement is so desirable it leads people to make resolutions. But it seems the idea of self improvement is desirable only until the point of first failure, after which we try to ignore our lonely goal while it follows us around, nagging loudly, until we give it another chance at the next New Year celebration.

People really need to learn to factor failure into their resolution setting, and make the end of the year the deadline - not the 2nd of January.

The Unbelievable Waleian Adventure

Caleb Brown — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:00:59 -0600

So over New Years a few of us travelled to Victoria for some fun. New Years Eve in Melbourne, hot days traveling the Great Ocean Road, climbing over the Grampians, cheese and wine at sunset, great Indian food in Benalla and much silliness throughout it all.

My Photos:

The long awaited video clip (thanks Mitch for the editing):

Back in the game

Caleb Brown — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:14:35 -0600

Well it's been a while since my last blog. The reason for the lack of posting has been the quiet transition of my web hosting from php4 to php5, thus preventing me from logging in to post. Now that it has been sorted I'll be doing some more updates in the near feature.

The Last Day...

Caleb Brown — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:49:51 -0500

My trip has finally come to an end. In a few hours I will be boarding
a plane to fly home to Sydney where I face a slightly more normal
reality. I am looking forward to climbing into the drivers seat of a
car after 11 weeks sitting in the passenger seat (which incidentally
is usually the same seat I would sit in to drive my car in Australia).
I am looking forward to being back at church and bible study and
hearing it all in English once again. I also have the enjoyable task
of dealing with all the correspondence of the past 11 weeks and the
need to find a source of income soon.

Anyhow, I figure I will leave any philosophical musings about what
I've learned, how I've grown, etc for when I return (assuming it
happened at all). For now I will stick to recounting my experiences of
the past week...

Last weekend was the Congreso Nacional de Jovénes de la Iglesia
Angicana de Chile (the national youth conference for the Anglican
Church in Chile). I took a bit of arm twisting to go, but I went and
it was definitely worth it.

It was good seeing familiar faces I had met over the previous weeks
and also the CEP students who were involved with running the workshops
and talks. But it was also good to meet new people. I was very
thankful that so many of them could speak some English, although my
Spanish really did get a workout that weekend.

The first place it got a workout was in the first workshop I did. It
was called 'Conviértete pecadorrrrr' and it was about evangelism.
Christian who was running it was probably the hardest Spanish I've
ever heard. It was fast, but what really made it hard was that it was
very Chilean - i.e. lots of dropped endings and shortened words (much
like Australian English). But followed some of it, especially through
the notes and I was very impressed at the depth they went into (the
official age range was 15 to 28).

I went from one extreme to the other for my second workshop. It was on
conflict resolution and it was with Jo Charles another CMS missionary
from Australia. Being an English native speaker meant her Spanish was
slow and less Chilean, so I managed to understand most of it (well
except for the last hour when my brain switched off due to sleep
deprivation and Spanish overload).

The sleep deprivation was combination of factors. Firstly the last
activity for the day usually ended at about midnight. Secondly the
first night also had 'el cambio de hora' or daylight savings, so we
lost an hour sleep. Thirdly alarms started going off at 6:45am and the
official wake up time was 7:30am. Finally the classrooms where we were
sleeping were packed. There were over 30 guys sleeping in the room I
was in. Some had no space between them and not an inch of the floor
wasn't taken up by something. So the first night we didn't get to
sleep until 1am (2am really). But it was only for 2 nights, so I could
live with it.

So overall it was a great weekend. It was fun watching (and taking
many photos) of the very silly games. I got to meet some lovely
people. My Spanish improved (especially after getting a lift home in a
car without any English speakers). And I can now say I've been to a
Christian Conference overseas.

Since it was my final week in Chile I decided I needed to do the usual
tourist bits. So on Wednesday, after a morning in the CEP, I walked
around Central Santiago with camera in hand (well 'in bag' after my
first week) snapping a few photos. I was a little disappointed by how
the smog affected my photos but got a few good ones. One of the places
I visited was the Cathedral on Plaza de Armas. I found it very strange
walking through and was struck by the people praying to Virgin Statue
- it left the same sad impression on me as when we visited the Pagoda
in Burma.

I also went to the Museum of Precolumbian Art and the Museum of
National History. I was particularly impressed by the latter who gave
me an mp3 player with English commentary on each of the rooms (¡gratis
tambien!).

Thursday I climbed Cerro San Christóbal - the tall mountain in Central
Santiago with a big statue of Mary on it. The Funicular ride up (much
like the steep railway in Katoomba) was lots of fun. The statue was a
statue. The head on a rock was very amusing as was the book underneath
still showing the old Pope. But seeing the prayers to Mary next to the
statue were sad. I then caught a cable car (called a Teleferico in
South America) down the other side and walked back to a Metro station.

I got to walk down one of the nicest streets I have seen in all
Santiago. It was wide with grass between the road and the path and the
path and the houses. There were even cars parked in the driveways, not
behind fences. Such a difference to the poorer areas of Santiago. I
then finished the day with more junk food.

So my last week has been pretty busy. I've also had to say goodbye to
many new friends too, especially the students at the CEP and the youth
of La Florida and Providencia churches. Soon I will also have to say
goodbye to the Swans which will be very sad.

But soon I will be home and I am looking forward to it. Please pray
for safety on my trip back to Australia. Also pray that I would deal
with being in Australia again well too.

As usual photos are online as are photos
from the Congreso

Thanks for coming along for the ride. See you all very soon!

Photos from el Congreso

Caleb Brown — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:44:16 -0500

Photos from the Congreso Nacional de Jovénes in Chile, 2007. A youth camp for all the youth in all the Anglican churches. View more photos....

Fotolog for the Jovenes de la Iglesia Anglicana de Chile (why is fotolog all the rage here?).

Fernanda's photos. She's much better than I am, and has a better camera too.

Overdue Update

Caleb Brown — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:39:04 -0500

Hello all,

If you've managed to keep on top of all the updates you are doing very well, in fact better than me - I'm a week behind. So here I am letting you know I am still alive and what's been going on....

Firstly for those of you who noticed in my last update I said Sally Swan had been sick for 8 to 9 weeks. Well that is an awful long time to be sick, but it is also fortunately wrong. So when I said 'weeks' I really meant 'days' (thanks Bryan).

Anyhow, I've been really enjoying my time here in Santiago. My first week was spent doing little jobs for CEP and the other missionaries here and the week just been was spent partaking in the CEP Mission Week with the other students. In between those things was a visit to Viña del Mar on the coast.

When we left to visit Viña del Mar on Saturday (29th Sept) it was a warm Sunday day in Santiago, so we were looking forward to more of the same on the coast. But the sunny weather ended as we crossed through the mountains (yes, 'through' - there were tunnels). Viña was cold and cloudy. But despite that it was really good. We listened to Peter Coombe on the way down (oh the memories! toffee apple nice and juicy, one for julie one for nicky...). We got a little lost and had to ask people for directions. We went and visited Pato and Dagmar for morning tea (who studied at Moore College in Australia) and another missionary family, Daniel and Ellelein Kirk, for lunch (with SAMS UK). I'm really glad we went before the Australia vs England quarter final in the rugby, because I had talked up Australia beating England.

After lunch we went to the beach, but with the cloudy sky and the freezing breeze it really wasn't quite the experience we had hoped for. But the Tim, Lachlan and Annabelle still had fun playing in the sand and playing chicken with the water. I, like Edward, decided sleep would be a good choice. On the way back we stopped via McDonalds for ice cream. I got a Quarter Pounder meal (I was famished alright...) - I can say now with more certainty that McDonalds really tastes the same everywhere.

Sunday was a good break from the busy Saturday. It was also good hearing Tim preach in church and actually understanding nearly a whole sermon preached in Spanish. I was also invited to go and stay with a church members relatives down in Conception, which would be great, but I think I'm going to run out of time.

The next week, from Monday to Sunday, was consumed by the CEP mission week. One group went down to the city Temuco, and the other to Iglesia de La Florida, right here in Santiago. In fact La Florida is the area where the Swans live, and the church was once the Swans church, and the Sheads (other CMS missionaries with the CEP) are currently attending there (guess which team I was on).

The week was spent doing walk up evangelism in the malls, puerta a puerta (door to door) and running various activities at the church. Some of the highlights of the mission week were:

Getting to know some of the CEP students so much better.
Seeing a church members get excited about doing mission in their neighbourhood. It was great sitting around after doing door to door around the church a seeing the excitement of each person as they recounted their experience and the enthralled looks of those listening. I've also never seen so many people turn up to a night to be trained (proportionally to the size of the church).
Being with Tim as he shared the gospel to 8 youths who all said yes when he asked them if they wanted to 'pray the prayer [to become Christians]'. Not sure how serious they were, 'cause I don't remember seeing any of them at the later events.
Encountering a culture that is so open to talking about Christianity and so willing to hear the gospel of Jesus.
Latino promptness: the official starting time was 12pm for lunch. Which usually started at 12:30pm when we got access to the church. But everything ran late and things changed all the time.
Singing so many songs that we sing back in church at home. I have now sung in Spanish 'Wondrous Cross', 'Lord I Life Your Name On High', 'Shout to the Lord' and 'One Way' amongst others.
Experiencing a Chileano barbecue. Australians are really quite unsophisticated in our approach. We put meat on. It cooks. We eat. Usually with condiments (which here are done so much better too). Aussie males who care to go that one step further are few and far between. Here barbecues are over coals, and the usually exists one guy in the group capable of turning ordinary meat into something extraordinary.
Flickyman

I'm sure there are many other highlights, but I think I'll leave it at that for now.

Other than that the last few days have been fairly low key, with the exception of a handful of birthdays amongst the CEP students and their children. Birthdays, if it's a bloke, will usually involve the Chileano equivalent to punches - having a group of friends hold the arms and legs and toss them up in the for the number of years they turned. Which for Gerardo today was more than the guys throwing him could endure.

The other interesting thing here, is that despite the much higher cost of living, the food and drinks are still really cheap. A 500mL bottle of coke costs about US$1. Oh and Coke comes in so many more sizes too. You can get 250mL, 375mL (can), 500mL, 1L, 2L, 2.5L, 3L. Coronas are also insanely cheap. A six pack costs about US$7.

My final 10 days in Chile consist of trying to cram in all the proper tourist bits, doing some final tasks for the CEP and going to the Congreso Nacional de Jóvenes this weekend (Nacional Youth Conference, run by the Anglican church, much like KYC). Much of the teaching here will be done by the CEP students (Felipe will be giving the 3 main talks!) and it will be a great opportunity to catch up with the La Florida youth and spend more time with the youth of the Providencia church.

Otherwise the Swan family are still being a great blessing. I am enjoying my time here a lot and it has been great spending time with the children. Unfortunately Annabelle has gotten sick again and has been kept awake for much of the last few nights with a cough (and her parents too).

Thanks once again for your support and prayers and for the many emails from you. This is my penultimate email prior to my return, of which I am looking forward to. Dios te bendiga.

Photos from Chile

Caleb Brown — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:08:01 -0500

I've uploaded lots of new photos from Chile. Check them out.

Bible Translation

Caleb Brown — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:22:57 -0500

Somehow I can't think of a less productive way to spend ones time: translating the bible into lolcat.

From John 1:

In teh beginz is teh werd, and teh werd iz liek "Oh hai Ceiling Cat" and teh werd eated teh Ceiling Cat.
In teh beginz teh werd an teh Ceiling Cat iz teh bests frenz.
Him maeks alls teh cookies; no cookies iz maed wifout him.
Him haz teh liefs, an becuz ov teh liefs teh doodz sez "Oh hay lite."

Part 3 Begins: Chile

Caleb Brown — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:15:53 -0500

I am quite overdue for another update, and I am very sorry for the
delay, but there has been much to distract.

I left you all last time describing my adventures of The Inca Trail
and Machu Picchu. Since much has happened: I got a cold, I went to
Lima, somehow managed to fill 3.5 days there, I then had an adventure
travelling to Chile (basically there was a lot of waiting) where I
have finally arrived and spent the last 3 days...

The most significant news is that this is the first of these emails
being typed from an Apple (and a MacBook at that). I'm sure I'm the
only person who cares, but I thought I'd tell you all anyway.

My final days in Peru were unfortunately marred by the cold I got a
day or so after returning from the hike. My plans for wandering around
Cusco on Sunday and taking lots of nice photos of fantastic streets
and great architecture were thrown out for a day in bed instead. On
Monday I knew it would be a long day when I went down with some
travellers cheques in hand to get them changed, only to remember along
the way that I needed my passport. My cold also made the flight back
to Lima interesting because as we descended to sea level the pressure
change blocked up my left ear, making everything rather dull.

Lima itself is a big city with not a great deal to see or do. I
watched 2 movies in the Cinemas (Bourne Ultimatum and License to Wed)
for approximately AU$4. Watching movies in the Cinemas for less than a
DVD rental in Australia is lots of fun. I also had a massive Peruvian
lunch with seafood dishes for about AU$12. It was a full three courses
and the entree alone would have cost AU$20 in Australia.

I also spent a brief time in Central Lima. I saw the changing of the
guard at the palace, which was very exuberant. A marching band played
as various groups of guards marched around out the front, with big
awkward looking goose steps. If I was the one deciding how it was
going to be done it would've been over in a few minutes, but I guess
someone thought a big show would be the way to go.

After watching the guard change, I went to the Monestary of San
Fransisco. I join a guided tour, which was in Spanish, and was shown
the monestary. Highlights include a big painting of the last supper
featuring guinea pig as the main dish and the catacombs - including
real skulls. Compared to all the other bones the skulls were
particularly unnerving, since they gave some personality to the
otherwise anonymous dusty bones.

But that was about all that was interesting in Lima, besides a random
conversation with a map vendor (who was from Cusco and didn't make
enough from selling maps because there weren't many tourists in Lima),
a long conversation with my taxi driver on the way to the airport, and
a random Christian thingo with stalls selling books, music and various
Christian nick-nacks. Oh and the food. Actually the food, besides the
Inca Trail, was the best thing about Peru. That and Inca Kola.

My last experience of Peru was having to wait 3 hours in the airport
for a delayed flight. The delay would've been bareable had it been
earlier. But it wasn't. So instead of flying out at 00:30, I flew out
around 03:30. And I discovered that I should never attempt to sleep in
airports, because it's really quite impossible with all the light and
the announcements and the cleaners. The only thing that made the delay
better was bumping into Erica from the hike, which meant I had someone
else to chat to, even if she left 2.5 hours before I did.

The delay also meant that I missed my connecting flight in Buenas
Aires to Santiago. So instead of only having to wait 1.5 hours I now
had to wait 4 hours till my next flight. I guess that's what you get
in the end for trying to fly cheaply.

But without the delays I wouldn't have been bumped to business class
on my flight to Santiago (which included a much better meal than
economy). Nor would I have got to see the Andes in the afternoon light
as we crossed them. They were truly spectacular to see from the air
and it made the flight quite memorable.

Otherwise I arrived safetly in Santiago and was greeted by Tim and all
the Swan children at the airport. My first night in Chile was with the
Guzman family, because the Swans had been quite sick and things were a
little bit in disarray - and it wasn't helped by the handyman who had
been installing a storage cupboard.

But on Sunday I went with the Guzmans to church and enjoyed church.
Singing hymns in Spanish is lots of fun, especially when they're ones
that have been translated from English. I was very surprised at the
number of English speaking people there, which made it much easier to
meeting new people. After church I returned with the Swans to their
home. Sunday was actually the first day Sally had been out of bed in 8
to 9 weeks, which was very good.

On Monday I visited the CEP and enjoyed a chapel service there. I also
got to meet the students there and the other staff. To get from the
Swan's place into the CEP we travel via the Metro. The Metro is
fantastic. In fact I have been impressed by the public transport in
every South American country I've been to. Anyhow the MetroRed is a
train network that is very cheap (about 60c for any distance), and has
services coming every 5 to 10 minutes. To use the Metro you buy these
smart cards that you charge with money and simply wave infront of a
sensor to deduct money and allow you to travel. The quality of public
transport all throughout South America makes me wonder why Sydney's is
so expensive and inadequet.

Anyhow, I am really enjoying my time here. The 'work' I am doing will
be split between sticking contact over the new catalog numbers on the
spines of books, misc computer related tasks (playing with websites
and MS Access databases), and hopefully helping out on the upcoming
CEP mission week. The best bit though is getting to spend time playing
with Edward, Lachlan, and Annabelle.

Well I will be here for another 3.5 weeks, so I'm sure I will have
much more to say about Santiago very soon. Things are going well and I
have been very blessed by the Tim and Sally. If you can pray that I
can be a blessing to them and that God would teach me and use me while
I am here that would be great. Also give thanks that the Swans are all
nearly recovered from the sickness too (there are still a few runny
noses and coughs going round).

The Inca Trail

Caleb Brown — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 19:36:59 -0500

Hello once again.

I have now uploaded pictures from the final day of the hike. See them here

Now for a bit more detail on the hike...

We started on Monday with a bus trip at about 5:00am to Ollantaytambo. We had breakfast there then headed onto the start of the trail. We started out at about 9:00am. Before lunch was pretty easy and mostly level. There was one steepish climb before morning tea, but it would soon become rather insignificant.

I probably should get names out of the way about now. Our guide's name was Casiano. My fellow hikers included two american girls, Jennifer and Erica. A dutch guy called Robin. And the other Aussie's Lee, Leif and his girlfriend Nathalia. So there were 3 guys and 4 girls.

Anyhow, lunch on day one was a huge suprise. I don't think any of us on the hike really grasped what it meant to have porters until we reached lunch. We walked into the camping area and there were 2 tents set up, one for us to eat in and one for them to cook in. Outside the tents were 7 bowls of water, 7 pieces of soap and 7 small hand towels hanging up behind them. There was a tarp also layed out for our packs and gear. We were immediately given a drink of juice before we sat down to lunch. Lunch blew us away. It was a 3 course meal - entree, soup and a main, followed by a round of tea and coffee. Even the sugar was in a small metal sugar bowl. This was the quality of service we got for the whole trip. So it didn't really feel like we were ruffing it.

After lunch was the hardest part of the entire hike. We had to ascend 800m up the side of a mountain to our camp for the night (at an altitude of 3800m). The worst part of the ascent was inside the forest where, after climbing what seemed to be an endless amount of huge stairs made from rocks, I would turn a corner only to see another set of rocky stairs extended just as high. Progress was slow and tiring and that altitude ment I was often out of breath.

Most other tour companies camped at the bottom of the ascent for day one and did the entire 1200m on the second day. So we were very happy to do it this way, and it also meant that the camp sites were pretty empty and we didn't have to contend with all the other hikers until day four.

Day two started with a 400m ascent to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. The fun part of this section was being a short while from the top and hearing the sound of a flute travelling up from below on the wind. Our guide had brought his flute along and often played it - something no other companies had.

After a photos at the top we went down 600m of altitude to lunch on the other side. Descending mountains doesn't use as much cardio, so I wasn't puffed, but it makes the legs just as tired. I think I've had my quota of stairs for my entire life. We had lunch in the valley at the campsite where the other tour groups would stop on day two. Our guide kept calling them losers. In fact, pretty much everyone who wasn't in our tour group got called losers at some point along the way.

After lunch was another 400m ascent up a mountain and another 400 or so metres down the other side. Along the way we got to stop at some ruins. It's really quite spectacular seeing these buildings constructed on the tops of mountains and in incredibly inaccessible locations. It was also lots of fun having Casiano get so into explaining the significance of each ruin - his passion for Incan history was a big highlight of the hike.

We camped the night in Cloud Forest. Like the night before this sight had fantastic views. And also like the night before it was really, really cold. But the stars outside were quite spectacular.

Day three was an easy, level walk through temperate rainforest, followed by a knee jarring 1000m descent to our final camp site. It was great arriving for lunch at the camp site and being able to rest for a few hours in the arvo. We then went off to some ruins nearby and got a detailed description all about it from Casiano.

Dinner that night was lots of fun and afterwards we got to hear what each porter carried and got to thank them for their hard work. We also 'exchanged' songs. We really didn't know what we were doing, but it was a lot of fun. The porters sang a song, then we sang one, then they sang another, then we sang another.

The next day was the climax and it started at 3:40am! We had a quick breakfast with a cake (the cook was brilliant!) for Robin's birthday. We were first to the checkpoint by about 4:35am which didn't open to 5:30am. When the gate finally did open we started a fairly brisk walk to the Sun Gate, followed by Machu Picchu. The walk to a bit over an hour and it was really special walking up to the sun gate and seeing Machu Picchu for the first time. The fact that you didn't see Machu Picchu until then made the experience quite dramatic. After another set of photos we started out on the final part of the hike. It was great walking around the side of the mountain and seeing the sun break through the clouds and light up all the ruins in bright light and long shadows.

After a short break and a much needed toilet break we had a 2 hour tour around Machu Picchu that took 3 hours. Casiano really got into it and even though he was tired didn't want to leave anything out. After the tour though we were hit by tiredness and a slight contempt for the masses of tourists. Being there with so many people really made the hike and the other ruins we saw so much more special.

Anyhow, after that was lunch and a long train trip back to Cusco for a shower and sleep. All in all it was an unforgetable experience. As we hiked through the mountains I was regularly struck by the shear scale of them - pictures can barely grasp how huge they are. God's creation is truly amazing. The group was fantastic - not too big, not too small, and no difficult personalities. Casiano was great too.

Today I hung out with Jennifer and Erica and went horse riding around some ruins above Cusco. The only problem after visiting Machu Picchu is that now every other ruin I visit seems pretty really small and lame! But it was a fun day regardless and great to see Cusco from another angle.

That's more than enough email for now. Thanks again for your prayers and for reading my long emails. And thank you for sending me emails too. I hope things are going well in Sydney and in Menai.

Cusco is Good

Caleb Brown — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:18:14 -0500

Today I am writing from Cuzco, Peru. Based on my 1 day in Lima and 3 days in Cuzco I can say that Cuzco is much much better. The buildings in Lima look ugly, the streets are dirty, and the sky is covered with low altitude cloud for the entire day. I'm sure the Historical Centre will look better, but from what I'm hearing here in Cuzco the 4 days I am spending there may be a little much. Cuzco on the other hand is very pretty... The buildings all have old tiled roofs. The streets are paved and narrow. The buildings are all white or pale yellow on top of dark stone. The plazas and churches are incredible.

Cuzco also has way more tourists than Ecuador. This means there are way more locals trying to cater to the tourist tastes. This means that every shop in this area is either a restaurant, a tour operator, an internet cafe, a massage parlour (for the hikers I presume) or a souvenir shop. It also means that there are tourists everywhere. Which makes one feel a little safer - there are so many more targets for theft now (and so many better targets too).

I am staying at the Loki in Cuzco. I chose it because I knew it was a bigger hostel and would have lots of people to meet. Turns out that it gets quite rowdy in the bar at nights and many of the people who are staying here seem more interested in getting drunk than enjoying the city. But it certainly makes watching the Rugby World Cup interesting.

In Lima I stayed at a place that was really close to the airport. The taxi driver kept insisting that I go to Miraflores or the Historical centre of Lima, which is more tourist oriented and safer. I knew that of course and kept insisting he take me to the place I booked in one of the more shady areas of Lima. All the while I was hoping this hostel (a) existed and (b) wasn't really dodgy - especially since there were no reviews of this place on any of the internet sites I visited. But thankfully it was really good (except for the beds). The family that ran it were very friendly and hospitable. They cooked delicious Cebiche for lunch - a local raw seafood dish. It's a pity they're in such a dodgy, tourist barren area.

Yesterday I got to witness a huge procession for another statue of the Virgin Mary. This procession was 100 times bigger than the one in Loja. There were brass bands, dancers, scary masks, lots of colourful dresses and an ornate Virgin statue. It was quite incredible. I only saw it by chance too, which means I didn't have my camera with me. Fortunately there was a short procession today to go into the Cathedral, so I now have some photos.

Tomorrow I begin the center peice of my trip - the Inca Trail, which culminates in an early morning visit to Machu Pichu on the 13th. I am really looking forward to it (except the 4:30 start tomorrow morning). Our group has 7 people in it and 4 of us are Australian. The tour guide is really good too, so it should be a great experience. My next email will probably be a blow by blow account of the hike and I will upload many photos.

I am missing all my friends and family in Australia and hope you are going well. Thank you for your emails and prayers.

Jungle and Pigs heads

Caleb Brown — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:51:10 -0500

Part 1 Almost Completed

Caleb Brown — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:11:41 -0500

I really should get a little faster on these updates, but with much to distract I don't think it will improve.

Anyhow, tomorrow (Tuesday here) will be my final day in Loja and my 2nd last full day in Ecuador. This time tomorrow I will be on a bus on a 13 hour drive back to Quito. On Thursday I will be in Peru, on Friday I will be in Cuzco and this time next week I will be walking the Inca Trail. It's hard to believe it's already been 4 weeks since I left Australia. Please pray for safety as I travel over the next couple of days.

I will miss Loja and Ecuador. I have really enjoyed my time here. Stopping in the one place for a few weeks with people I know and who live here has been the best way to see and experience the culture. I have been able to meet and get to know some locals and foreigners and spend time with them over the course of my stay here. I have been able to take part in various activities that no tour group would ever be able to organise. I have been able to eat many strange foods, including Guinea Pig (which tastes much better than the soup).

Being in the one place for a little while means that you have time to consider the differences between here and home and observe some interesting things about our world. So I'll try and list as many as I can think of...

- The mountains are alive. In Australia, with it's small hilly range and tectonic stability means we never see our roads disappear when the dirt it's on decides it doesn't want to sit on the side of the mountain anymore. Here in Ecuador everywhere you go you can see the evidence of the mountains slipping into the valleys. In fact on Friday I traveled to Parque Nacional Podacarapus (near a town called Zamora) with a local called Fabricio and experienced this first hand when we came to a section of track that had been washed away entirely by the rain leaving a gully full of moving quicksand.

- The perception of distance is totally stuffed around by the Andes. In Australia you could drive the distance between Quito and Loja in about 6 hours. But when you add roads of questionable quality that have to twist their way up and down the sides of mountains it ends up taking at least twice the time to travel the same distance.

- Ecuadorians don't seem to have the same view of mortality as we do in Australia. They will happily print pictures taken of people killed in car accidents and the like. They have an entire section of vocabulary dedicated to the variety of ways you can be killed or injured by a car (which you are tested on). And the book on road rules includes photos of accidents too.

- The city is generally more noisy. Roosters crow and dogs bark. Car alarms go off at ridiculous hours. Taxi's will honk their horn to let you know they've arrived to pick you up. The garbage truck and gas truck (and even the buses in Quito) play music as they drive around the streets (but it's never Greensleaves) - thus making it possible to identify the vehicle by it's tune. Fireworks go off at all hours and generally explode in such a way as to set of any sensitive car alarm in the vicinity.

- Public transport is fantastic. Taxi's in Loja usually cost US$1 to go anywhere (at night it changes a little). Buses in Loja and Quito cost US$0.25 to go however far you want to go within the city. Intercity buses cost approximately a bit over a dollar per hour - tomorrow I travel the 13 hour trip back to Quito for just US$17.

- Security seems to be important to people. I may have mentioned this before, but it is one thing that continues to stand out. There are gates and big doors everywhere and either pointy metal or broken glass on the top of every wall. There are guards with guns in front of shops. The shops themselves have big gates or roller doors.

- Houses all seem to be designed to have a toilet right next to the front door which is incredibly convenient. I have also yet to walk into a place that wouldn't be good for entertaining a reasonably sized group of people.

- Construction is everywhere. Every home seems to be left with concrete pillars and reo-bar sticking out the top ready for an extra level to be put on. Every third home looks like it is having some sort of work done to it. Every road is either needing repair, or in the process of being repaired.

- Shops seem to congregate by type. So all the sports shops are next door to each other, and all the jeans shops are next door to each other. Shops don't stock a wide variety of the product they specialise in either. Which often means you will have to go from shop to shop to find the specific thing you are looking for. The other day as I was hunting an Ecuadorian football shirt I walking into one store and was quickly told they didn't have what I was looking for, but the shop across the street did. So I went across the street to the shop and asked and was told they didn't have it either.

- They like coffee here with big domes of foamy milk.

- Public liability and occupational health and safety are two phrases that don't seem to exist in the vocabulary here (and many other parts of S.Am too I'm told) and a number of windscreens have big head shaped cracks in them. Kids happily play on the streets and move between houses without any sort of parental supervision - even with big buses flying down the street.

I'm sure there are many more things I can list, but I'm starting to struggle now. As soon as I send this email another 10 will come to mind.

Loja was lots of fun. I will miss staying with the Bakon's and all the people I met and I give thanks to God for the experiences I've had and things I've learnt. But there are lots more things to see and do here still and new friends to visit, so maybe I'll have to try and return some day.

Lamb and Guinea Pig

Caleb Brown — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:11:32 -0500

Un Correo Tarde

Caleb Brown — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:33:37 -0500

Well it's been a little longer than I would have liked since my last post. We had some internet issues here, so we were without internet for a couple of days. But it's back up, and we're using the ISP's modem on the ISP's account - which makes it free. (For those who are interested the Internet in Loja is mostly over the mobile telephone network. EDGE and CDMA I think).

Much has happened in the the week and a half since I wrote last. I left Cuenca on a road similar to before, with a driver just as insane as the last. I arrived in Loja mid arvo and was picked up by the entire Bakon family (Colin, Jill and their sons Matthew and Nicholas) who had been at lunch nearby... Within the hour we had arrived at their place and I was shown to the room I was staying and had started to settle in and ate a bit before heading out soon afterwards.

I have done a fair bit while I have been here. I started off doing some volunteering work in the 'El Sendero' cafe that SIM operate on Plaza San Sebastion. It was great getting in and doing something and meeting other missionaries and locals (Christians and non), especially after being alone for the last week. On Saturday night we (err, missos, volunteers and friends) went out to a local bar -and got to practice my spanish with a local over a beer (which is apparently the best way to learn a language). Also because this is the uni holidays the cafe is shut for the rest of my stay, which is a little disappointing.

On Sunday I went to church which was completely in Spanish and was very interesting. It is much the same as Australia, and singing in Spanish when I can hardly speak it was quite a challenge. Sunday night was an English conversation night run by the missionaries. The English classes in Myanmar were a great experience to draw on for this and it was lots of fun losing very badly at Pictionary and great to meet some more locals.

Monday was the day the Virgin del Cisne arrived in Loja after it's trip from El Cisne (a statue who become something special when a local got healed). The plan was to head out with Rachel (she is from England and had stayed with the Bakon's 2 years before for 6 months) and Colin early in the morning to see it as it went. Unfortunately the our planned route on Via Antigua was blocked by the police, so we, and hundreds of others, couldn't go. Despite this, though, we managed to see it in the afternoon as it came into Loja. There were thousands of people who had come to follow the Virgin (at least as it went into the city). The amount of honour given to a inanimate statue made the whole experience very strange. But it was still fun to take part in the festival and watch the fireworks being launched from buildings only meters away while the fantastic latin music blared. I almost got into trouble when the band started shouting 'Viva Ecuador!' and everyone said 'Viva!' and then 'Viva Loja!', followed by a 'Viva!' then 'Viva la Virgin' followed by everyone saying 'Viva!' and me saying 'No' in a crowd full of people who adore the Virgin.

On Tuesday we went to a place near Gonzanama to have bible study. It was at a Christian family's small farm which sat on the side of the mountain and required a 5-10 minute walk down from the dirt road. I really enjoyed seeing the contrast of how they lived compared to how people in the city lived.

I went to Vilcabamba on Wednesday with the Bakon's. There we went on a horse ride around the town, which I'm still feeling now. The horses tended to do what the one in front was doing, which was usually going fast enough to be very uncomfortable. Well uncomfortable until I shortened my stirrups and uncomfortable again when the right stirrup broke. But it was a great way to see the area and lots of fun. We then went to Hosteria Izhcayluma for arvo tea which has the most incredible view. It is also one of the prettiest places I've seen to stay and really cheap for what you get.

On Thursday night we went out to Cafe Tikku to meet some students Colin teaches English to at a University here to watch one of his students and his brother perform. I got a big taste of South American promptness. They agreed meeting time was 9pm at the Cafe. The time the others arrived was 10pm. The time the advertised starting time for the music was 10pm, but it started at 11pm. Myanmar's stretchy time is quite tame compared to here. But when it started the music was very good and very enjoyable (despite being so tired)

Today I went out to Naranjo Dulce with a Medical Caravan put on by a church in Loja. After reaching Catacotcha we drove for 50 minutes along a long and windy dirt track on the side of the mountain. Our journey was partly delayed by some men loading cows up onto the back of a truck. Naranjo Dulce is pretty much in the middle of nowhere with no easy medical support, so we were there to provide some. My job was at the end of the line dispensing drugs - I'm sure what I was doing would have been very illegal in Australia, but it was lots of fun. Except when we had to dish out multivitimins.

Besides the variety of activities I've also eaten some interesting food. On Wednesday in Vilcabamba I had Goat Stew, which was very nice. It tasted a lot like lamb. I've had Coconut Icecream. I've had Horchata, a drink made from flowers. I've had Pony Malta, a Malt flavoured soft drink. I've had a lot of Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice), By far the most significant, though, has been the Caldo de Nervio - or Ox Penis Soap. It is said to make you strong and virile and even cure hangovers. I can't say it did any of those things, but the broth of the Ox Penis and Bigs Trotter 'mixto' I had was very strange and very salty and the textures of the bits in the soup were quite unfamiliar. But I had it. And so did Rachel. And so did Jill (who's been taking people there for 2 years). And so did Colin - his first time (there you go mum). Next up on the list is guinea pig.

So the last week and a half has been lots of fun and very full. I've been very blessed by the Bakon's. I've been shown a lot more than I would've seen on my own and been able to take part in things I would never have been able to do. They've provided lots of food and a nice big comfortable bed too. So I am very thankful for that. I've had the chance to meet lots of great people and see more of what it's like to be a missionary. I am kinda improving my Spanish, but I feel like I know nothing. I guess that should be expected when one is surrounded by experts.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of my time here. There is still over a week to go before I have to leave.

Thanks for all your support and prayers and thanks for all of you who have written emails to me too. It is great hearing even the littlest detail about what is going on back in Australia.

PS - If you want some images to go with your text, head on over to my photo album

The Other Side of the World

Caleb Brown — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:03:27 -0500

Well I'm a week down in Ecuador and what a week it has been! At present I'm sitting in a net café in Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is considered one of Ecuador's most beautiful cities and I'm inclined to agree. So I'm a little disapointed I'm only staying tonight and leaving for Loja in the morning. If I was to return to Ecuador it would be on my list of things to explore (amongst other things).

The last time I wrote I believe it was before the 'Cry for Independence' celebrations... The celebration itself was large. Every plaza in Old Town Quito must have had a stage and a band playing. Plaza San Fransisco is where I spent most of my time. The plaza itself is huge and when I arrived at 9pm it was packed. I caught a few acts before the fireworks and midnight where I decided to then call it a night. As I walked back to the hostel I caught up to a group of people walking down the street on stilts waving Ecuadorian flags, with a small brass band at the front making a lot of noise and people letting off roman candles in the street. After all this I was left wondering - if this is how by they celebrate the 'Cry for Independence' what will the actual Independence day celebrations be like!

Since the celebrations took place leading up to the day itself I took the holiday very easy. I pretty much bummed around the hostel most of the day. Except for lunch. For lunch I went into New Town with Rick, one of the more colourful characters staying at the hostel (he's from NZ but has been travelling for 4 years and his accent is so far removed from his country of origin). New Town was pretty much dead, so my decision to do nothing was given some backing.

Saturday was going to be my tour of Old Town. I had decided to check out in detail and look at all the great architecture and museums. I visited the Basilica del Voto Nacional. They allow you to climb the tours and look out over the city. It was quite an experience climbing the smaller of the 3 towers. I first had to walk inside the roof cavity across a rickety wooden bridge with rope for rails (so the roof that you see from way down below inside was underneath and the roof you see from outside was above). I then climbed something that is probably a set of stairs, but looks more like a ladder, to access the base of the tower outside. I then had to climb up another 2 sets of the same sort of stairs, but this time I had a lot more air and a long drop to the roof (and a slide to the ground) below. But at the top I was greeted with a great view of the city - which was helped by the fact that the Basilica is one of the tallest buildings in the city.

Afterwards I went to hunt food (after a short stop by a net café). Unfortunately the fun of the Basilica was quickly stolen away when I had my bag taken in a classic con job. While I was considering what to eat for lunch ( i.e. distracted) I had a guy come up to me and tell me I had stuff all over my back (warning bells should've sounded). I had a look and I did. He then offered to help clean it with the convenient roll of toilet paper he had in his pocket - which was quite odd, but I wanted the stuff off me so I didn't really catch what was happening. Within about 5 seconds after that somehow he'd taken my bag off, attempted to clean it, then stepped in between me and the bag, then stepped away and it was gone. Needless to say I was shocked and attempted to find directions to a police station.

Fortunately I nothing particularly important was in my bag. My camera was in my hands at the time and my docs and everything else was at the hostel. Unfortunately though my bible was in it and a few other things that would've been nice to not lose. I spent the rest of the day pretty easy. I went and got a police report and then bummed at the hostel. I also spent Sunday bumming around the hostel, 'cause I didn't really want to go out with a camera and no bag to put it in. I spent Monday putting back together the bits I lost, which involved a lot of running around New Town, which was lots of fun.

The highlight of that was walking past a security guard standing in front of his shops having his shoes shined. Hands on hips looking very tough. I wish I had my camera! Speaking of security guards it is very common for them to have guns. Many have shotguns and I saw one with an Uzi - awesome.

After spending most of the day running around I went and visited a church in Old Town (the name is too hard to remember). It was very impressive. It had intricate woodwork covered in gold and many artworks. One was a particularly gruesome depiction of hell. It was also a pity they didn't allow photos.

Tuesday and Wednesday (today) were then spent travelling. Which has also been quite and experience. The bus drivers I've had have been lead foots. Hammering past every other vehicle on the road - even other busses. It was alright yesterday, but today I was on the edge of my seat, heart in mouth, for most of the trip as we hammered along roads with long, sharp drops for hundreds of meters only centimeters from the busses wheels. Roads that were sometimes dirt or that sometimes had large boulders on it that had fallen of the mountain it was on. But despite the stress the views were spectacular.

Tomorrow I head to Loja where I will meet the Bakon's - my missionary friends from my old church. It will be good to have people to talk to that I know and who know English. Despite knowing enough Spanish to get by - I don't know enough to meet and get to know people, which has made the last week a bit lonely. I'm missing my friends in Sydney and SNC my bible study at St Pauls. So with that and the bag loss the last week has been quite hard, but a very value experience and thankfully the last few days have been much better (but still challenging).

Please thank God that I am safe and have not lost anything important. Please pray that he would continue to keep me safe and secure. Pray that I would also trust in him and seek to bring him glory as I travel.

PS - I realised the other day I'm quite literally on the opposite side of the world to where I was this time last month

More photos - Basílíca del Voto Nacíonal

Caleb Brown — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:13:27 -0500

more photos